William Merritt Chase
(1849 - 1916)
 

William Merritt Chase was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later became the Parsons School of Design.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Merritt_Chase

 

A City Park
1887
Oil on canvas
34,6 × 49,9 cm
Art Institute of Chicago
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/28849/a-city-park

 

 In the mid-1880s, Chase embarked on a group of plein-air paintings inspired by New York’s parks. Influenced by the brilliant colors and unorthodox compositional formats of the French Impressionists, he often countered a broad, comparatively empty foreground with a detailed background. In this painting, which probably depicts Brooklyn’s Tompkins Park, almost half the canvas is filled by the wide, empty walkway, which, with its strong diagonal borders, carries the eye into the composition. This swift movement into space is slowed by the woman on the bench, who appears to gaze expectantly toward someone approaching along the path. To the left, colorful flowers provide a contrast to the bare walk at the right. This informal, seemingly spontaneous work, capturing the sparkle, light, and activity of a summer day, testifies to the freshness and vitality that Chase brought to the painting of such scenes.